CHESTER BENNINGTON, LEAD SINGER OF LINKIN PARK DIES AT 41

Chester Bennington, the lead singer of band Linkin Park, has died. According to TMZ, his death at his private residence in Palos Verdes Estates in Los Angeles County at approximately 9am Thursday morning was confirmed by the coroner and is being treated as a suspected suicide.

Linkin Park has sold over 70 million albums, and their debut, Hybrid Theory, was the best-selling album of 2001. Their song “Crawling,” taken from that album, earned them a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance. They won another in 2006, for “Numb/Encore,” a collaboration with Jay-Z. Their seventh album, One More Light, was released in May.

Chester battled for many years with addiction to drugs and alcohol, and often used music to help him cope with emotional and mental distress.

Bennington is survived by six children, Jaime, Isaiah, Draven, Tyler Lee and twins Lily and Lila, and his wife Talinda Ann Bentley.

His Linkin Park band-mate Mike Shinoda tweeted that he was “shocked and heartbroken” at the news while other tributes have arrived from Rihanna and Chance the Rapper.

Shocked and heartbroken, but it’s true. An official statement will come out as soon as we have one.